Middle school can be rough, a time when even the most well-adjusted kids are doing everything they can to look as cool as possible in the company of others. But some kids are just born that way, and the best thing they can do to look cool is just be cool. Sophie, Lucio and Izzy — Care Bears on Fire — are three such kids.

The three seventh-graders met in kindergarten, and since the fall of 2005, Sophie (guitar and vocals), Izzy (drums) and Lucio (bass) have been playing gigs in rock clubs, dances and parties under a moniker that’s far too clever for your average 12-year-old. Care Bears on Fire isn’t exactly breaking the mold and reinventing rock and/or roll with each show, but any power trio that can make a room full of adults grin from ear to ear and throw up the rock horns deserve at least a modicum of our undivided attention.

The pre-teen punk-infused power trio releases its first full-length debut album, I Stole Your Animal, on Tuesday, October 2nd, and the band will host a CD release party at Brooklyn’s Southpaw tomorrow night (the 29th). There you’ll be reminded of the teenage angst that once plagued your every thought, and you’ll most definitely smile along with the band as they throw down rockers like “Met You on MySpace” and “Five-Minute Boyfriend.”

Feel free to get sloshed on all the tequila you can stomach, but this is one show you should be careful not to offer anything to the band. Care Bears on Fire was kind of enough to answer a battery of questions for us, and our interview as well as the band’s debut video for Everybody Else follow after the jump…

How does a trio of pre-teens come together and decide to melt faces as a rock band?

[Lucio checked the Urban dictionary to figure out what “melt faces” meant. It says “high-wasted, toted up or smokin’ weed.”] We started playing together when we were 8 so we didn’t get together to do any of that—we didn’t know about any of that. Otherwise, we liked music, we all played instruments, and we’re all friends.

Alright, not quite what I meant. Anyway, how so you work together to write songs? Are any of you dominant in the process or is it a team effort?

It’s all different but mostly we all contribute ideas and then take it from there. Sophie and Lucio write the music. Izzy and Sophie do the lyrics.

Does CBOF interfere with your school work, and how often do you get together to practice and play?

Yeah sometimes. In 7th grade we have lots of homework. We also like to do other things like dance, music lessons, have a social life—or we like to think we do. We practice twice a week usually. Sometimes on weekend if we have a big gig.

How are you families involved in this — are they supportive? Are they driving this or trying to apply the brakes?

They are supportive. They drive us to gigs (sometimes have to apply the breaks). They are the roadies.

What’s your impression of the New York bar scene?

Bars? Not literally bars, right? Playing in clubs is fun. We don’t find anything that different playing clubs versus other events, but in a bar people will offer to the buy you drinks, and they come to see you perform. The New York bar scene has been very welcoming to the kid band scene which is great.

Do you get stage fright?

“I always get nervous before you a show,” says Izzy. “I always get nervous for a bit, but then once I get on I’m pretty much okay,” says Sophie. “I get a little nervous,” says Lucio.

Or is there this air of confidence at being the coolest 12-year-olds in the city?

We wish.

Are you still living like kids, or do you find you’re dealing with adults more than the normal 12-year-olds?

We’re still living like kids, but kids who also deal with grown-ups.

Lastly, you have a song called “Met You on MySpace” — um, what are 12-year-olds doing on MySpace? Don’t you know the Internet’s a dangerous place?

Yeah it’s dangerous—that’s the point of the song. We got the idea for the song because we saw kids we knew profiled as being much older and then all these creepy adults checking them out. Then it was like, “Wow wouldn’t if be funny if somebody wasn’t only older but like a magical creature.”

Thanks to CBOF for answering a few questions for us, and rest assured, kids, I wasn’t asking you about getting high — melting faces has another, more rock-related connotation altogether. Here’s the band’s debut video for Everybody Else, a song off the I Stole Your Animal album that debuts on October 2nd.

• Check out Care Bears on Fire on MySpace (remember: not for sex)
• New York Magazine’s flattering Carebears on Fire profile
• CBOF Debut Video: Everybody Else from I Stole Your Animal

Ace Cowboy

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